A Time of Victory and Thanksgiving

You know, brethren, here we are during the Passover, and now we're in the last day of Unleavened Bread. We have done our due diligence. We have taken time prior to Passover to examine ourselves. As I've made mention on a number of occasions, we don't examine ourselves to determine whether we should come to the Passover or not. We examine ourselves because God wants us to fully appreciate our deep need and that He's provided for that need with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Sometimes this introspection could be rather negative. We see things we don't like. We tell God things are going to be different, and we make an action plan, so that will be the case in the coming year. But this day, the last day of Unleavened Bread in so many ways is such a positive day. All of God's holy days are positive days, but this particular day I've always enjoyed. It's a time of great deliverance for God's people. We see that in the pages of the Old Testament. Traditionally, we have taught that God's people went through the Red Sea on the last day of Unleavened Bread. Of course, we realize we have real deliverance spiritually by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our Passover. So this time of the year depicts something very beautiful for us, something very encouraging for us. It's a time of great joy, a time of great deliverance. God knew in His tremendous wisdom that God's people need an opportunity to, as we heard today with offeratory music and special music, to either sing praises to Him or play instruments of praise to Him. We have a song that we're going to take a look at today. We're going to take a look at the song in some detail. It's the very first song recorded in Scripture. It's called the Song of Moses. Let's turn over to...well, before we get to there, the Song of Moses is recorded over in the Book of Exodus, but we're not going to get there quite yet. Let's go to Ecclesiastes.

Book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 3 and verse 1. Ecclesiastes, chapter 3 and verse 1. To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven. We drop down to verse 4, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance. Now, what I want to think about mostly today is the second and fourth thoughts there in verse 4. A time to laugh and a time to dance. We have spent our time examining ourselves. We have spent time getting sin out. Of course, we talk about putting God's righteousness in. But, brethren, there is a time for everything, and there is a time and a place to rejoice in our spiritual success. There is a time and a place to rejoice in our spiritual success.

Most of us in this room have kids or grandkids, and when we see our children or grandchildren, we want to see bright, smiling faces. We want to see people with their heads up, twinkles in their eye, nice walk. We don't want to see people beaten down. One of the saddest things I saw a number of years ago was a dog my son had taken in one of these battered dogs. And the poor thing, I mean, I don't know what happened to that dog in his life, but it just walked around cowering the whole time. If you spoke in any kind of a loud voice or just a deep voice, it would go running for cover. It was just such a sad thing to see what that poor animal must have been going through. God doesn't want to see animals go through that, let alone people. So there is a time to laugh. There is a time to rejoice. And we're going to see in a song of Moses just that. Let's take a look at Psalm number nine.

Now we've got two hymns we sing from this particular psalm. Psalm number nine.

We sing hymn number eight and hymn number nine in our hymn book. And number eight is, I will praise thee, O eternal. You know that song. And hymn number nine is, Declares works to all nations. That comes out of this psalm we're about to look at.

Psalm number nine. Psalm of David talking about how God is our great deliverer. Psalm nine verse one. I will praise you, O Lord, with my whole heart. I will tell of all your marvelous works. I will be glad and rejoice in you. I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. So here in the very first portion of the psalm we see David speaking of God as the true judge and the one whom God's people can have tremendous hope in.

And so this day I want to highlight the hope we have in our great God, the power we have in our great God. Because of his power, we will be successful spiritually. Dropping down to verse nine of Psalm nine. Psalm nine verse nine. The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And those who know your name will put their trust in you. For you, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. Now God is right with us to be there with us. You know, I spend a good bit of time preparing both the Beloit here in Chicago for the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread. We were going through the book of Daniel, and I basically didn't go through any of that in March or April. Not much to speak of, so I can get all the sermons that I wanted to get in to prepare you. But starting next week in Chicago, and I'm going to start going back into Daniel. And one of the great stories that we're going to get into as we get back into the book of Daniel is the story of the fiery furnace, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Where those three fellows were thrown into the furnace. And what did the king say when he looked in there? He said, we threw three in there, and I see four. Because Jesus Christ was in their shoulder-to-shoulder with them through their trial. And as we see here, David is saying the same thing. God's not going to forsake us. As we go through life's difficulties and trials, God is going to be there. So let us rejoice in that fact. Let us rejoice in that fact.

Now today, we're going to want to examine not, and I've given sermons, and we'll give other sermons that I'm sure in the future, where we talk about how what took place just prior to Israel going through the Red Sea. I'm not going to do that today. Today's sermon is going to highlight what happened just after they went through the Red Sea. Just after they went through the Red Sea. Because just after they went through the Red Sea, Moses composed this song. And it says so much to each and every one of us. And we can have success in our lives, just as God gave Israel success over Pharaoh, representing Satan and Pharaoh's mighty army, representing our mighty sins. God will give us the same kind of victory. So if you're taking notes today and you'd like to have a theme statement, it would be this, the last day of unleavened bread pictures, a time of victory and thanksgiving to God. The last day of unleavened bread pictures, a time of victory and thanksgiving to God. Now just as the Passover speaks of redemption by blood, the episode, the story of the Red Sea, tells of redemption by power. By power. And as they made mention, Exodus chapter 15, and why don't we just turn over there? Exodus chapter, and put a marker there because we'll be going other places. Exodus 15 is the first recorded song in all the Bible. You know, we've got a number of musical people here in the room today.

All of us, I think, enjoy music. Well, this is a song that's recorded. Now, one commentator divided the song up this way, and I'm going to keep his the way he divided it. So if you want an overview of what we're going to cover today, let me give it to you right now. In verse one, we've got a prelude. Okay, verse one, we've got a prelude. And verse one talks about the triumph of God. So we're going to outline it right here now for you. So you got a prelude in verse one. In verses two and three, we've got stanza number one. Stanza number one. And stanza number one talks about what God is. Verses four through thirteen is stanza number two. Stanza number two. Verses four through thirteen. And that talks about what God has done. Then you've got the last stanza, which is verses fourteen through eighteen. Stanza number three. Verses fourteen through eighteen. And that talks about what God will do. What God will do. So let's begin again. I've given you the outline of what we're going to go today. First, we've got verse one, which is a prelude. And the prelude is the triumph of God. So let's get into this here. Exodus chapter 15 verse one. Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord and spoke, saying, I will sing to the Lord, for he is triumphed gloriously. The horse and its rider, he is thrown into the sea. So here we see the people were actually singing. They came together as a community of believers in the Old Testament, not just as a nation, but as a community of believers, and they were singing praises to God.

It says here that God triumphed gloriously. And so they're expressing great joy. Pharaoh is gone. The army is gone. They don't have to worry about that. Now they're heading toward the promised land. And so they are just beside themselves with great joy because of what God has done. Now, let's us think about ourselves. Let's translate that into our day-to-day. Put a marker here in Exodus 15. Let's go over to Romans chapter 5.

Romans chapter 5, verses 1 and 2. Romans chapter 5 verse 1, Therefore, having been justified by faith, justification is having our past sins forgiven, our past sins are forgiven because of faith in the sacrifice of our Passover Jesus Christ. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Because we have our sins forgiven, we have a relationship with the great God. We've got a relationship with Jesus Christ. And that gives us peace of mind. We know our sins have been forgiven. We know we're on the path to the kingdom of God. We know we're on the path to eternal life in that tremendous kingdom. Now, notice verse 2. Through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Verse 2. Through whom we have access. The word access means we have been allowed to enter. Now, Paul doesn't have a mind of, you know, you and I standing on the outside looking in. Paul has a mind we've been ushered into a relationship. And we've been ushered into that relationship into that grace in which we stand. We don't stand because of our strength. We stand because of the grace of the great God. Israel stood on the other side of the Red Sea by the grace of God. You and I stand on the other side of our baptism and having our sins forgiven and having God given us His Holy Spirit. We stand there by the grace of God. Let's go back now to Exodus chapter 15.

I want you to take a look at the last part of verse 1. Exodus 15, the last sentence there. The horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea.

Other translations could say the horse and chariot he threw into the sea. Now, what's interesting about this, brethren, is the word for throne.

The word for throne here in verse 1 of Exodus 15. That word is a very rare word to be used in the Hebrew. It's a pictorial expression. It describes God as reaching down and basically grabbing the Egyptian soldiers and riders one by one and throwing them into the sea.

It shows our God is a very much a hands-on God. Just as God takes our sins one by one and throws them behind his back. And because of that, we triumph gloriously, as it says there in verse 1. So this is a beautiful song, not just for what happened in Old Testament to Old Testament Israel, but for each of us as well. Each of our sins, one by one, has been dealt with by God. The grace in which we stand. In your notes, you might want to jot down 1 John chapter 1 and verse 9. I can read that for you. 1 John 1.9. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Notice it says, He is faithful and just. So many times we think about us being faithful and just, which we need to do, but God as well leads the way. He is faithful and just. As you've accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, as you live a life full of repentance, and as you are sorry for things that you have done in the past that you didn't want to do but because of weakness or maybe ignorance you did, but you come before God, you do what it says in Hebrews, you come before the throne of grace boldly, you ask for forgiveness, and it says here, He is faithful and just to forgive us those sins because we're repentant, and they cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I don't care how bad whatever it is you or I did, He'll cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You can also write in your notes John chapter 1 verse 29. Again, I'll read this for you. John 1.29.

So in this tremendous song that we're looking at, we're going to analyze as we go through all the various verses here. Verse number one shows the triumph of God, and it shows your triumph and my triumph in God. Okay, let's move on to stanza number one. Stanza number one again is verses two and three. Verses two and three talk about what God is, what God is. Moses and the Israelites were flooded with joy of the moment. Their hearts were just overflowing with the spirit of rejoicing and praise toward God. Let's read these verses. Verse two, the Lord is my strength and song. He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise Him. My Father is God, and I will exalt Him. The Lord is a man of war. The Lord is His name. Now, this section, these two verses have an awful lot of meat here, and we're going to take our time to wade through this. Notice here in verse two, the Lord is my strength and my song. Now, that's an unusual way that the Hebrews would describe God. He is my strength and my song. It's a very unusual pairing of words.

Basically, the idea in Hebrew is God is our strong song. God is our strong song. That is, a person of faith may regard the living, omnipotent God as the reason for singing.

We have a reason for playing these beautiful instruments. We've got a reason for singing hymns and services. God is our strong song. He gives us the reason to sing because of His greatness and His love and His grace and all those wonderful things that He is. The Lord is my strength. The Lord is my strength. No matter what you and I go through in life, no matter what trials confront you and I, no matter what the challenges, it says, the Lord is my strength. No matter the problems, no matter the temptations, no matter the sufferings, no matter the persecutions, no matter what negative in life, the Lord is my strength. The Lord is your strength. We as believers may be weak of and by ourselves, but in God we are strong. It says here, the Lord is my song.

And so, basically, the concept here is, as you and I go through the problems of temptations, sufferings, the persecutions, the negative things, the challenges of life, we should be able to go through them with joy. We should be able to go through them rejoicing and singing in the face of all these various issues. Now, that sounds unrealistic to some.

I remember saying to some people back when I was pastoring in various other areas that joy is not a matter of circumstance. Happiness is a matter of circumstance. Joy isn't. The Bible says that for the joy that was set before Christ, he endured the cross. Now, no one's going to say he was happy when he was enduring the cross, but he had joy. Joy doesn't matter about the circumstances when we're talking about joy, because joy is a matter of the mind, the heart. We're joyous because we have a relationship with God. We're joyous because we understand what the trials and challenges of life mean. God is teaching us. He's testing us. We're growing. We're becoming more like Him. He's getting rid of things in our life that shouldn't be there. And so, He is our song. He's very positive, and God wants us to go through life with that kind of a mindset. And we see that here in this beautiful song. It says here, also, the Lord is my salvation. He has become my salvation.

At first, as Israel camped by the Red Sea, they thought the Red Sea was a dead end.

They thought the Red Sea was going to be the, you know, we're all going to die. We've got mountains on two sides. The Red Sea there in front of us. Here comes the Pharaoh. The other direction, we're gone. We're dead. And Pharaoh and his army thought the same thing.

Now, that's a human perspective. God's perspective was quite different.

God parted that Red Sea. And as Israel went in, Egypt was thinking, ah, we've got them. They can't go anyplace. They're in there. But see, here's the thing. If you're a general and you're taking a look at a group of people you want to annihilate, what do you do? You want to flank that group of people. You want to surround them and then annihilate them. Well, they couldn't flank them. They couldn't go around them because of the walls of water. So God had Egypt just where God wanted to have Egypt. So Egypt, the Dead Sea was not a dead end. It was not a cul-de-sac. The Dead Sea was an open door. It's all in a matter of a way we want to look at life. God is our salvation. Notice what it says here as well in verse 2. He is my God. He is my God.

Interesting that they are, as a group, rededicating themselves and saying, well, the Egyptians had their gods, but this is my God. In one sense, it's kind of like a bragging. This is my God. It's like a little boy standing behind his big, strong father. Maybe he's being bullied by people around in his school. And dad comes walking out of the house, and he says, that's my dad. He's six foot four. He looks like he's like Goliath or something. That's my dad. Well, this is my God. And that's what they're saying. This is my God. God had just proven, once again, by miraculously delivering his people. They had almost 10 miracles taking place to spring Israel loose from Egypt. And now here's another mighty miracle. This is so many miracles. The manna, the quail, all these various things. And so we see that they say, this is my God. And I will praise him. I will praise him. Again, the Hebrew here is interesting. It's too bad that we you and I don't know Hebrew. I don't think many people in this room know Hebrew. I certainly don't know Hebrew, but I do know how to read a commentary. People who can read Hebrew. And as they look at Hebrew, again, there's a phrase, there's a concept here. And the concept is, this idea about praising God here in this verse, it means to bring God beauty. To bring God beauty. We bring God beauty by praising him with our lips. We bring God beauty by singing hymns. Again, I'm not going to turn there. In your notes, you might want to jot down Hebrews 13, verse 15. Hebrews 13, verse 15. Let me read that for you. Therefore, by him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God. That is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.

Sacrifice of praise to God. That is, the fruit of our lips, giving sacrifice to his great name. One of the great rewards we have, brethren, you know, people want to think about, well, if I follow God, he'll bless me monetarily. I'll be able to get a nice car, a bigger house, or a bigger piece of land, or whatever. But one of the greatest rewards that we have is a greater appreciation for who God is. A greater understanding of who he is. A greater love for who he is. Those are rewards all to themselves.

Rewards all to themselves.

End of verse 2 of Exodus chapter 15. This is my father's God. My father's God. Talking about the fathers, Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. My father's God. Again, there's a concept here. And the concept here is that the Israelites are thinking about their spiritual family that goes back to, you know, the days when God first created Adam and Eve. All the righteous people who had ever lived, that is their family. And brethren, that's the same thing. The same thing is true for us. We may not be racially related to all the characters here in the Old Testament and New Testament, but we are spiritually related. We are a spiritual family. Moses is a brother of ours. All the mighty people. David is a brother of ours. In some cases, they're a literal family of ours if we go back in our family tree. But even for those of us who don't have that in our family tree, they spiritually, you know, spirit is thicker than blood. And here they're saying that, you know, this is my father's God. Okay, let's move on to verse 3. It says, the Lord is a man of war. The Lord is a man of war. The Lord is a man of war. I will exalt him. Excuse me. The Lord is his name. The Lord is a man of war. The Lord is his name.

He fights for us. He stands against our enemies for us. He conquers everything that opposes us. He triumphs and gains victory over the forces of evil as we allow him. And again, think about what happened prior to these events. The pillar of cloud, the pillar of fire. How that God separated Israel from Egypt. The pillar of fire was a light to Israel, but it was darkness to the Egyptians. And as we read further, verse 4, Pharaoh's chariots and his army, he cast into the sea. This is showing how God is a man of war and what he did for Israel. His chosen captains also were drowned in the Red Sea. So here, the officers of the Egyptian army were destroyed. The depths have covered them. They sank to the bottom like a stone. So here we see examples of how God fights for us. I want to have you turn to Philippians chapter 4. Put a mark out there in Exodus. Let's go to Philippians chapter 4. Philippians chapter 4 and verse 13, where it says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, through Christ who will go to war for me and with me. I can do all things. You know, we've got that scripture that says no temptation will overtake you, but you can't handle. You know, 1 Corinthians 10, 13. Of course, the idea there is the reason we can handle all that adversity is because God is there with us. Not that we're taking it on our own. God is there with us. 2 Corinthians chapter 12. 2 Corinthians chapter 12.

Verses 9 and 10. You know, Paul wanted to be healed. God said, well, I could heal you. You know, I can do something, you know, very quickly. You can be healed. It would be very inspiring. He said, that's one miracle. That's one miraculous result. Or another miraculous result would be that you've got to live every day of your life with that particular issue. And as you live every day with that particular issue, you're going to have to rely upon me to get you through each day. And that also is miraculous. You know, sometimes people think, well, my faith must not be very strong. God didn't heal me. Well, was Paul a man of faith? Yes. Paul healed? Did God heal Paul? No. Was Herbert Armstrong a man of faith? Yes. At the end of his life, he was basically blind in both eyes and deaf in both ears, running three college campuses, running a worldwide work. Was he not a man of faith? Of course he was a man of faith.

But God was asking him to live one day at a time with the power of God, getting him through each day. So verse 9, so he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, most gladly, I'd rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Again, this grace in which we stand. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, and distresses for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, when we're physically weak and understand our weaknesses, and we rely upon God, and we rely upon Christ, then I am strong. Not because we've gotten so much stronger physically or whatever, we are strong because we rely upon God's strength. What he is. So stanza number one, verses two and three is what he is. Now, the next stanza, stanza number two, is fairly lengthy. It goes from verse four through verse thirteen. It's the bulk of the song. Stanza number two, verses four through thirteen, and that is what God has done. What God has done. Let's go back to Exodus chapter 15.

Again, this was done on the, as we understand time, this was done on the last day of Unleavened Bread as they went through the Red Sea. After they'd gone through the Red Sea, they've got the song they're singing, and there's just so much beautiful information here. Thanks for us to contemplate. That's why I'm giving this message today. We've already gone through verses four and five, showing that God was, as a warrior on their behalf.

We don't need to rehearse that. Verse six, Exodus chapter 15, verse six. Your right hand, O Lord, has become glorious in power. Your right hand, O Lord, has dashed the enemy in pieces. This was a way, an active way, of describing God's power among his people. He wasn't a God that was far off someplace. He was a God that came down. He lived with them.

He lived among them. He walked among them, and he took care of business for them. God lives and moves with his people. Again, in your notes, you might want to jot down Ephesians chapter three and verse 20. I'll read this for you. Ephesians 3, 20. Now to him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, the power that works in us, that right hand of power that God gives us.

Moving on. Chapter 15 verse 7. Exodus 15, 7. And in the greatness of your excellence you have overthrown those who rose against you. You send forth your wrath and consume them like stubble. So again, notice the way this is expressed here. And in the greatness of your excellence you have overthrown those who rose up against you. Now the world would think that Pharaoh was rising up against Israel. The Pharaoh was rising up against those slaves that had left Egypt.

That's not the way God's looking at it here. That's not the way God inspired Moses to write this song. If you attack God's people, you are attacking God. I think that says something. I think that should be encouraging to us. Again, the little kid standing behind his great father analogy. You know, you're going to pick on that little kid. Well, there's a great big strong strapping father there standing in front of that kid. And in the greatness of your excellence you have overthrown those who rose against you.

You sent forth your wrath. It wasn't the Israelite's wrath. It wasn't their army. You sent forth your wrath and then it consumed them. You were not going to consume them. Verse 8, And with the blast of your nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright like a heap, the depths congealed in the heart of the sea.

Talk about poetic. We're not, you know, in verse 8 you don't see a picture of God straining and sweating and in grunting and growing. What you see with God here in verse 8 is he takes a breath with his nostrils. He just breathes out calmly and as he breathes out very calmly the red sea parts. Doesn't break a sweat. That's our God. As it said earlier, hey, that's my God. That's not the Egyptian's God. This is my God. All he's got to do is just breathe through his nose.

He has a faint little breath and the great red sea is parting here. And so God wants us, as they were singing this song and as we read this song, to meditate on the great power that is there to support you in whatever situation you find yourself in. God doesn't have to break a big sweat to help you or to help me. Just a little bit of breath through his nose and tremendous powers unleashed.

Verse 9 and 10. The enemy said, now here in verse 9 we're going to see six different things that was coursing through the minds of the Egyptians. And we see their vanity here. Verse 9. And the enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall be satisfied on them, I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. None of that came to pass. None of that came to pass. They weren't able to overtake because they couldn't get around the red sea.

They had those walls on either side of the Israelites. They weren't able to divide the spoil because they all drowned. My desire shall be satisfied on them. Not really. They're going to be resurrected in the second resurrection. And you know, brethren, this is a point for us to consider. We're not reading all of that, all of the story here, but part of what is read in the in the chronicle here is how God was destroying the Egyptians so they might know the Lord. As these individuals were dying, with their dying breath, they realized, hey, this God of Israel, He's the true God.

Not our gods. Our gods are not rescuing us. And so when these fellows come up in the in the general resurrection, in the second resurrection, it's going to be a tremendous...they're going to remember how they died and whose hand they died by. They died by the hand of the great God. And they're not being satisfied right now, but they will be when they're resurrected in the second resurrection. I will draw my sword. Well, they didn't do that, did they? And my hand shall destroy them. That didn't happen. None of those things happened. They had a six-fold vow of boasting.

The world, in a sense, was licking its chops, just like many times the world will lick its chops because they think they're going to get to you and hurt you or have their way with you. But God has other ideas. Let's take a look, put a marker here, let's go over to Hebrews 11.

Hebrews 11.

In verse 32, Hebrews 11, verse 32, And what more shall I say, for a time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barag and Samson and Jephthah, David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouth of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, and turned to flight the armies of the aliens. So just as God was showing himself as a mighty man of battle for the Israelites, he does the same today for Christians. What is it? What mount Everest are you facing? What mount Everest are you facing in your life right now? You might be standing in front of something that looks seems so big and so difficult and so challenging, so arduous.

Just the other night I saw a movie I've been wanting to watch for some time. It was on my cable on demand and I watched it. It was the name of the movie was Everest. It was based on a true story back in the late 90s. There were a large number of people who gathered at the base of mount Everest to ascend to the height and conquer mount Everest. As it turned out, there were so many, there were probably 20 or so that were making this trek all at one time up the mountain.

A great number of them made it all the way to the top, top of the world. There was one oriental woman who had climbed the other six highest peaks in the world and that was left on her on her to-do list. She was just a little itty-bitty thing. She made it to the top. You know, there was a little place on the top where you can put your flag. She put her Japanese flag there and she had made it to the top. She had climbed all seven of the highest mountains in the world.

But as they were heading back down, a tremendous storm hit. And I forget how many people died on that mountain, but their bodies are still there.

One man who had tried to make the trip three times was just a matter of a few hundred yards away from the very top and the one lead guide was heading down and his wife was expecting a little baby and he wanted so badly for this guy to help him get to the top. And he did. He helped him to get to the top and they both died on the way down. The oriental lady, the Japanese lady, she died. Their bodies are still up there, never recovered. So, you know, God is there for us. God is there to get us through these Mount Everests of life, no matter how hard we think they may be. He will get us through those, not like physical people who don't, you know, try to earn their own power to get through. Verse 35, women received their dead race to life. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance. They might obtain a better resurrection. So others had trials of mockings, and scourging, yes, of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, slain with a sword. Verse 37, they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, inflicted, and tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth. And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise. God, having provided something better for us, that they should be made perfect apart from us. So, yes, we'll have hard times. We will have our Mount Everest. We will have arduous things that take place in our life. But then, God is there for us. And that's one of the things we want to appreciate about this song of deliverance, the song of Moses, that God is there for us. Nothing separates us. Let's go to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8, starting here in verse 31.

What shall we say then to these things, if God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? You know, talking about the various things Satan would want to do, and to get us down, to get us depressed. Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? Well, Satan does that. But it's God on the other side who justifies. Who is he who condemns? Well, Satan loves to condemn. But it is Christ who died, and furthermore, who is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who makes intercession for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword? No. For his sake we are killed all day long. We are kind of the sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

So, brethren, God wants us to allow these things to just permeate our minds. Today is a day when we rejoice in victory. Today is a day when we think about the spiritual successes we've had as a result of relying upon the great God and his power in our life. Okay, let's go back now to Exodus 15. Verse 11, Exodus 15, 11, who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? You stretch out your right hand, the earth swells them. So again, we see the tremendous power, the majestic power, the awesome power of the great God. Verse 13, in your mercy have led forth, you and your mercy have led forth, the people whom you have redeemed, you've guided them in your strength to your holy habitation.

In your mercy, the Hebrew word there is chised, chised, meaning loving kindness, steadfast love, grace, mercy. It's a term that shows God's strength toward us, God's steadfastness toward us, God's love toward us. He, in his mercy, has led us forth. In his mercy, he opened your heart and your mind to see the truth of God. In his mercy, he brought you into the truth. In his mercy, he keeps you in the truth. In his mercy, he helps you to grow. In his mercy, he is there for you, shoulder to shoulder as times are hard. Now the last stanza, stanza number three. Stanza number three is verses 14 through 18. And that talks about what God will do. What God will do. Exodus 15 verse 14.

The people will hear and be afraid. Sorrow will take hold of the inhabitants of Philistia. Then the chiefs of Enom will be dismayed. The mighty men of Moab, trembling, will take hold of them. All the inhabitants of Canaan will melt away. So here we see this is verse 16 as well. Fear and dread will fall on them by the greatness of your arm. They will be as still as a stone. Your people will pass over, O Lord, till the people pass over whom you have purchased. So God's hand rests very powerfully upon his people. The impact upon Israel's enemies was great.

They were fearful, and they should be fearful, to fall into the hands of the living God. But in our minds, again, you don't need to turn there. I'll read this for you. But 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 7. 2 Timothy 1.7. For God has not given us a spirit of fear. He's given the world a spirit of fear. But God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. So God does not give us a spirit of fear to be timid, to be cowardly, but God gives us power. He gives us his Holy Spirit. He gives us the strength of character that we need to carry on. He gives us confidence in himself as being the great one who walks before us to guide us.

All these qualities, boldness and love and power, self-control, these are gifts of God's Holy Spirit.

They're not natural tendencies. These are the things that come to us as gifts from God.

Okay, going back now to Exodus chapter 15 verse 17.

You will bring them in and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which you have made for your own dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established. So God says he's going to bring them in. He's going to bring them through to the Promised Land. He's going to empower them to come to the Promised Land. Just like, brethren, our Promised Land is the kingdom of God. Our Promised Land is the kingdom of God, and God will see that we get there if we are faithful, if we stay the course, if we stay the course.

On Sabbath, I gave a song about spiritual drift. I'll give that some time here. Are we spiritually drifting? How would we know if we're spiritually drifting? You can either wait until I give it here or go listen to it online. But we don't want to be spiritually drifting. We've got two stories in the scriptures where the Hebrews, in Hebrews chapter 2, Paul said, you're drifting. That was at the very beginning of the Christian era. And the Hebrews are people who grew up into faith. They knew about the Sabbath and the Holy Days and tithing and clean and unclean. They were basically church kids. And then came Jesus Christ. But they were drifting to the point where they were thinking of going back into Judaism and leaving Christianity. That's at the beginning of the Christian era, at the end of the Christian era in Revelation chapter 20. At the very end of the millennium, after 1,000 years, no Satan, no demons, no false teachers, only the truth of God, you as the family of God teaching for 1,000 years. And then at the end of that, Satan has let loose for a little while. We don't know how long a little while is. Months, years, we don't know how long that is. But he's let loose and it says that great numbers like the sand of the sea fall victim to his deception. And they, as an army, head toward Jerusalem to want to plunder Jerusalem. That's after the millennium, after 1,000 years. What happened to those people? They drifted.

They drifted. People talk today about environment. Never a better environment than when Lucifer had. God and Jesus Christ ruling over the holy righteous angels. No sin, no problems. If an angel wanted to go talk face to face with God, the angel can go talk face to face with God. Doesn't, don't have a better environment than that. And yet, Lucifer drifted.

No one was, no one, no one was forcing him to drift. No one was tempting him to drift, but he drifted. So we've got to be careful about that. Let's look at 2 Corinthians chapter 2.

2 Corinthians chapter 2. 2 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 14. Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us defuses the fragrance of his knowledge in every place. Talk about a poetic statement. Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ. Bold statement. Doesn't quibble. Always leads us in triumph in Christ. As we follow Christ, as we obey Christ, leads us always. And notice the last part of verse 14, very poetic, and through us defuses the fragrance of his knowledge in every place. You know, our lives, if we are following Christ, is like a sweet aroma, a very pleasant smell. Not that we stink. We're talking about a very pleasant smell because we're doing the things of God. Okay, let's go back now to Exodus chapter 15 and conclude the song. We've read everything but verse 18, which is the concluding verse in the song. Exodus 15 verse 18, the Lord shall reign forever and ever, forever and ever.

In Revelation chapter 11 and verse 15, we can read that in Revelation chapter 11 and verse 15. Then the seventh angel sounded, and there was loud voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. Again, when you're thinking about these Israelites who have just come out of slavery, who just came out of over 400 years in Egypt, and the idea that there's going to be no more taskmasters for all time, there's coming a time when God's kingdom will prevail. Truly, it's a great day of victory. Truly, it's a time of tremendous thanksgiving to the great God. One last scripture today, brethren. Let's take a look at Matthew chapter 25, final scripture today. Matthew chapter 25, talking about the parable, the talents. In this case, we're looking at somebody who did properly, did well by God. Matthew chapter 25 verse 21. His Lord said, Then well done, good and faithful servants, you are faithful over a few things, I'll make you rule over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. Brethren, that's what God dearly wants to say to each and every one of us here. Enter into the joy of your Lord. So today, we've taken a look at the song of Moses. It's a song, it's a very powerful song. It's so chock full of meaning, but it's a great song in terms of the fact that on this particular day, we realize we have victory, we have success through God. It's not just going through life always hoping and wishing, it's we will have it as we follow God the Father and Jesus Christ.